The Irish keeper pulled off a string of excellent saves during the match, including a particular goal-mouth scramble from an Ash Taylor diving header in the 70th minute.

Murphy was delighted to keep his first clean sheet at home in the league since the win over Bournemouth in October.

The City stopper said: "I have seen a few goal-mouth scrambles in my time, but nothing like that. It was incredible as you didn't know where the ball was going next.

"It just seemed to go on forever and they probably should have scored from it. I had a bit of a chuckle if I'm honest. It was quite funny and when it went out for a corner, I couldn't stop laughing.

"It was like an Under-8s game where everyone is just piling in, kicking away randomly. But that is what you have to do to win a game sometimes and I was delighted we got through that.

"Oggy (Steve Ogrizovic) has just said to me after that scramble, he knew I was going to keep a clean sheet. We can definitely press on from this position and I think we can take a lot positives going forward.

"Long way to go in the season and that is a big three points so hopefully we can keep claiming that league and get in amongst it."

Tranmere, who are currently top of the League One table, pinned City back in the last ten minutes but both William Edjenguele and Richard Wood played brilliantly to keep Rovers out.

Murphy was impressed with City’s spirit to keep Ronnie Moore’s side out and hopes the Sky Blues can push on from this result with Oldham Athletic travelling to the Ricoh Arena on Saturday.

Murphy added: "I am just really happy with the clean sheet to be honest. Obviously it is brilliant to make some great saves but it is all about getting the three points and that sort of performance has been a long time coming.

"I was busy enough second half and I made some important saves of course, but I am just really happy for the win.

"I think we have proved tonight and before, that the quality we have in that dressing room means we can be challenging at the top of this league.

"We had two bad results in the league coming into this today but this is a really great result for us. They are a tough side to play and if you are top of the league after Christmas, it shows you are going to be difficult to beat.

"They never gave up but importantly, neither did we. It was a great contest and the team thoroughly deserved the win for the way they kept coming."